


Burn Out The Night

by psiten



Category: Original Work
Genre: Arson, Bargains, F/F, Historical Fantasy, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Murder, Medieval Japan, Non-Linear Narrative, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5017759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The bears are sleeping, and the deer are still running from the fire I set. You want an excuse to send a host of nannies to keep me in line."</p>
<p>"And you are playing a dangerous game. At best, it could cost you your life. At worst--"</p>
<p>"Enough."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn Out The Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ViolentFlowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolentFlowers/gifts).



_Orange flames closed into a canopy overhead, with their hearts tinged a bloody pink like the shadowless contours of her breasts. The fever in my blood has left the summer air so chill, no blanket could keep me from feeling sick like ice that would not melt. But now... now I feel almost human again._

     It was no surprise that the senior captain of Gohai's troops tried to block the door as she strapped on her armor, binding her breasts tight to keep them from shifting under the bamboo slats or from interfering with the aim of her bow. She paid him no mind, as nothing he could say would dissuade her from something she'd been planning for as long as this. He was wasting his breath, but it was his to waste.

     "Your Ladyship, must I remind you--"

     "Captain, I am the heir to the Tsuchida clan whether you like it or not. You will address me as, 'My Lord'." The man's lip twisted with arguments he knew better than to make. "Our enemies and the Emperor himself have been able to refer to me as such, if only because they'd prefer to defeat me on the battlefield than by deposing our clan over an accident of sex. I expect those who serve me to extend the same courtesy. Now, will you kill me, or will you kneel?"

     As she tucked her hair down her neck guard, the man who'd taught her how to use a sword took to his knee. "Deepest apologies, My Lord. However, I must counsel you not to take to the mountain tonight. Or if you must go, take a squadron with you. Enemy soldiers may respect your position, but wild animals are another matter entirely."

     "The bears are sleeping, and the deer are still running from the fire I set. You want an excuse to send a host of nannies to keep me in line."

     "And you, My Lord, are playing a dangerous game. At best, it could cost you your life. At worst--"

     "Enough." She slung her quiver over her shoulder and hung her sword from her belt. Even her old teacher looked resigned at the stillness in her eyes. "I didn't burn that monastery to the ground and then bury the bones with my own hands just to turn back now. And if I find what I'm looking for, it won't be in a crowd. Hold this camp, Captain. Don't come looking for me."

     "As you wish, My Lord."

_My demon lover walks out of the wall of flame, so much as one with the light that blinds my dry and smoke-filled eyes, but I can feel her there. I feel her fingers lace into mine. After all these years, at last my blood burns hot enough to touch the surface that is nothing like skin and feel something other than the heat. There's a mocking laugh in her throat for my smile as she kneels at my feet and lays her head in my lap._

     A warlord's horse is always ready and saddled in the yard when she needs it, and Gohai greets her charger like an old friend. No one else made a move to stop her as she rode past their sentry tents and the line of torches that outlined their camp in shades of amber against the dark night. The charger went most obediently up the rocky paths that spiralled toward the mountain summit. It didn't balk until they reached the charred arch where Gohai's forces had held the pass against the monks escaping their towering halls, threatening vengeance from beyond.

     If they hadn't wanted to die, they shouldn't have allied with her enemies. It was as simple as that. Their curses meant nothing to her. But the land where so many had fallen was sure to summon something, and she'd be a fool not to make what use of it she could. The horse shying away from the entrance only proved that everything was proceeding as she had wished. The burial ground she'd sown within with the bones of a thousand charred men had borne fruit, there was no doubt. Animals always knew.

     "There, now, Yoshimaru. You'll keep watch out here," she murmured, tying the horse's bridle to the gate.

_"You won't even try to run?" O-hime asked._

     Then, all alone, Gohai walked in the darkness through the scent of oil and ash. No lit torches now. Any hint of mortal light might blind her to the spirit she'd come to find, or might make it flee. Instead, she traced her way with a hand on the wall, flaking off the char that remained while carefully counted footsteps led her to the courtyard. Hallowed ground, where her enemies slept.

     The sight of blue ghostlight flickering around the edges of the grave stones she'd piled up nearly took her breath away. There was no question that this was a spirit -- one strong enough to need no subtlety, and a spirit of flame no less. She couldn't have asked for a better partner.

     Drawing in a new breath, full of the haunted air, she called, "I seek an audience with the spirit living in this place! Show yourself before your summoner, o flame."

     The fire vanished like a dream, leaving the courtyard in pitch darkness, and a laughing voice echoed from the nearest corner. "Summoner? You chanted no spells and drew no circles. By what right do you call yourself a summoner?"

     "I wanted you here, and I did what I had to do to make you appear. Or do you not find these accommodations to your liking?" Gohai spread her arms toward the expanse of the courtyard and all the souls contained within. "Do I not lay a feast worthy of a god?"

_"You won't even beg for one more day?" As if fifty-seven days more than ten whole years weren't longer than anyone had withstood O-hime's heat burning in their veins._

     Pouring wine for the Tsuchida clan's honored, if not mortal, guest, and taking the cup offered to her -- what could be better than a rice brew warmed by a spirit's touch on a cold night? -- Gohai admired the false body this spirit had formed to keep the frail, human eyes of the men in her camp from going blind. Hair as black as coal, feet as light as air. But anyone with sense could see what she truly was. So while the guards all cowered from her beauty behind walls and charms, there was no one to interrupt while the two of them laid down terms.

     "My lady O-hime. I have one wish."

     "To rule," the spirit answered. "I've seen your type before. Although most, it's true, find an intermediary with the power to call upon me without baiting a trap."

     "I don't like intermediaries. I prefer to act expediently."

     Reclining on the dried, woven reeds of the floor, O-hime etched a magic talisman with the charred trails her fingers left. "Well then, by all means. Tell me your wish, and I will tell you your price. But I must warn you, there will be no negotiation."

     "A lord doesn't haggle like some peasant at a market," Gohai whispered, pushing up O-hime's chin, the better to see the glint in her eyes. The line of her back in her fine silk robes was distracting enough without the sight of her breasts peeking from a loosened collar line. But there would be time enough to set a price for that once their business was done. "I didn't come to you for a bargain, madam. I came for the world. I want the power to make it mine."

     "If you want power, that's easy enough. The question is whether you can hold onto it long enough to do anything with it."

     Gohai took the spirit's lovely hand, as hot as a burning ember between her fingers, and held tight. She should have screamed, but she held it in, focusing on how her skin was whole and not burning away in smoke and blood. "Leave that to me to find out," she spat through gritted teeth as the spirit bit her lip. Her eyes were glowing now, not so well disguised as they had been. She was as bright as if the sun burned inside her.

     "Very well, o Lord of men who would be queen." She turned the all too human hand over, tracing the lines of the veins in her wrist as Gohai hissed to hold in the pain. "I'll lend you my power. And for as long as it can burn inside you without consuming you, it will be yours to wield. Then, when it burns out, everything you are will be mine."

     Tsuchida Gohai tried not to shiver as the air turned cold, so warm inside that it felt like the human world was made of ice.

     "Those terms sound fair," she answered.

_I traced my lover's white-hot mouth one last time with my fingertips, and lost myself in the flowing mass of her hair -- her true hair, made of crackling and heat, not the black strands I'd knotted my fingers into when I held her in the night, her body the only thing that could make the cold world seem warm. "Conquerors don't beg, my love," I wheezed through my smoked-out throat. Her laugh, now, was like the crackling of logs in the blaze. "You should know that. You are one."_

     The fire maiden smiled, pushing her false form's nose against Gohai's, stealing a kiss that the human didn't quite think was meant to seal a contract. That was fine. She tasted like smoke and wine, and burned like a brand on Gohai's tongue. "I may keep you, if your soul survives what you're about to put it through. I do hope there's enough of you left to be worth my time."

     "You'll learn not to doubt me."

_"Gohai, would you open your eyes one last time? I want to see your own fire again before you die. The way you looked when you first called me down here."_

_"I never could say no when you asked like that."_


End file.
